San Thome

San Thome Basilica is a Roman Catholic (Latin Rite) minor basilica in Santhome, in the city of Chennai (Madras), India. It was built in the 16th century by Portuguese explorers, and rebuilt again with the status of a cathedral by the British in 1893. The British version still stands today. It was designed in Neo-Gothic style, favoured by British architects in the late 19th century.

San Thome Basilica is the principal church of the Madras-Mylapore Catholic Archdiocese. In 1956, Pope Pius XII raised the church to the status of a Minor Basilica, and on February 11, 2006, it was declared a national shrine by the Catholic Bishops' Conference of India. 

The National Shrine of St.Thomas Basilica is built over the tomb of Apostle St.Thomas. St.Thomas one of the twelve Apostles of Jesus Christ came to India in A.D.52, martyred in A.D.72 and was buried here in  Mylapore.
There are only three basilicas built over the tomb of an apostle. St.Peter's at Rome and St.Jame's at Spain (Compestella, Santiago)  are the other two.
There is an underground tomb chapel below the Basilica. His Holiness Pope John Paul II visited and prayed at this tomb on 5th February 1986. St.Thomas who brought christianity to india is considered to be the Father of Indian Christianity. (from the official website)

I found San Thome (as it's called in Madras) to be an intriguing place. At the back of this church is a museum that houses relics from the previous churches built on this site. Although Suraj tells me that some India "historical facts" might not be well researched, the artifacts in the museum were certainly interesting to me. 

I suspect that Nyasha might have gotten a bit tired of me pointing out different mythological motifs and similarities. I found exactly what Joseph Campbell told me I would find (well, not me personally, of course) at every single religious site I went to in India. The cave, the sacrifice, and the guardians of knowledge. As I was browsing through the remains of the previous church I found the 'guardians of the gate' depicted in stone and they were exactly like the one's I saw at Sarnath in the remains of the buddhist temple. Unfortunately, they won't let you take pictures in the museums. 

San Thome looks like every other Catholic Church from a distance. In fact, with all the humidity in the air, it felt a lot like Minnesota. 

This is not a fresco of the Virgin Mary, but of Our Lady of Mylapore. As I looked more closely inside, I could see the mark of India on Rome. 

I think the Catholic church assimilates easily in other cultures because it's historical roots in pagan and medieval Europe still reflects the idolatry and superstitions of it's beginnings. After all, the doctrines of this church were born in the middle east and, throughout it creation, they flowed from the very Eastern religions it's leaders dismissed as hersey. It is, to my mind, very unlike the more modern incarnations of Christianity which were forged in Europe during the renaissance in reaction to the Catholic church's power. This church exemplified the modernization of India to me. Although on the outside it looks very foreign and western, on the inside it is Indian.

When we arrived at San Thome it was nice and clear. Almost as soon as we got inside, it began to pour. Buckets.

Within minutes, the parking lot was flooded and we were soaked just going from the church to the museum. These women waded up past their ankles in this puddle and the one just to the right of them was knee deep in about 20 minutes. 

So, Nyasha and I braved the wet again too, said good bye to St. Thomas, hopped back in the Autorickshaw and headed off to Marina Beach...

If you make it to Madras, be sure to make a stop here, just remember that between 4 and 5pm the power will be out. The scheduled power outages are one of the few things that are not on IST.